UPDATE Meredith McIver, who today acknowledged she wrote Melania Trump’s Cleveland GOP convention speech that included passages from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama, has a Westport connection—her sister lives here.
Meredith McIver: says she wrote speech. File photo
Although there is no record of her owning property here or having registered to vote here, several internet record searches show she used her sister’s Westport Beachside Avenue address in the past.
Several reports today said McIver currently lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and that she is a registered Democrat.
Town records show Karen McIver, 69, also a registered Democrat, owns the Westport property used in the past by Meredith McIver, 65. The New York Times reported that Karen McIver is Meredith’s sister.
In her LinkedIn biography, Karen McIver says she is creative director of ad agency crystalballatics.com and among her affiliations she lists member, Westport Arts Center.
A call to a number listed for Karen McIver today was not returned.
Meredith McIver’s biography on the All American Speakers’ bureau page, now removed, shows she has been working for Donald Trump since 2001 — and they have co-authored numerous books together for several publishers, including the 2004 hit “Trump: How to Get Rich.”
The Trump Organization identified McIver in a statement released today in which she took responsibility for the “mistake.”
According to her statement, McIver felt so bad about plagiarizing Obama’s 2008 speech and “the chaos” it caused the parties that she tendered her resignation. “But they rejected it,” she said.
“Mr. Trump told me people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences. I asked to put out this statement because I did not like seeing the way this was distracting from Mr. Trump’s historic campaign for president and Melania’s beautiful message and presentation,” she said.
This story has been updated with information from The New York Times saying Karen McIver is Meredith McIver’s sister and adds information from Karen McIver’s LinkedIn biography.
For more on another Trump book, “The Art of the Deal,” read the story about its ghostwriter,Tony Schwartz, in the July 25 issue of The New Yorker.
Asked what he would he title the book if he wrote it today, Schwartz answered, “The Sociopath.” “I put lipstick on a pig,” Schwartz said. He feels “deep remorse.”
And here’s an update:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-threatens-the-ghostwriter-of-the-art-of-the-deal?mbid=nl_TNY Template – With Photo (72)&CNDID=39894220&spMailingID=9237113&spUserID=MTE5MjY5MzY1ODIzS0&spJobID=961697543&spReportId=OTYxNjk3NTQzS0